Asheville gathers feedback on possible site for dedicated pickleball facility

Asheville’s pickleball future is moving into the public-input stage, and the choice now is between two very different park settings: Aston Park in downtown Asheville and Roger Farmer Park off Patton Avenue in West Asheville. The city says the project would be its first public complex with dedicated pickleball courts, a major step for a sport that has outgrown many shared-use spaces.

The plan calls for 8 to 10 courts, along with supporting features such as parking, restrooms and lights. Asheville identified the two possible sites after professional site analyses by Surface 678 landscape architects, and city officials have made clear that the feedback window matters because the decision will shape how the facility fits into Asheville’s recreation network for years.

The two sites come with different tradeoffs. Aston Park offers a central city location that could make the courts easier to reach for players coming from across Asheville, while Roger Farmer Park has a more neighborhood-centered profile and already includes two diamond ballfields, a multi-use grass field, a picnic shelter with restrooms and a multi-use court for basketball, futsal and skating. That makes the West Asheville site a more layered recreation space, but also one where a new pickleball complex would have to share the park’s identity with other active uses.

The city opened public input opportunities on April 13, 2026, and scheduled three drop-in sessions on April 27 and 28. At an engagement event at Roger Farmer Park, residents used maps and Post-it notes while talking with Parks and Recreation staff, a sign that Asheville is still weighing neighborhood concerns, access and court demand before making a final call. City officials say a final site will be selected by the end of summer 2026.

Funding is already lined up through the city’s 2024 general obligation bonds, part of an $80 million package that set aside $20 million for parks and recreation improvements. Asheville says using existing park land will maximize that investment without the added cost of buying new land. The broader Recreate Asheville plan, adopted on August 27, 2024, is meant to guide park and recreation decisions over the next 10 years.

The push also reflects how quickly pickleball has become a planning issue in Asheville. The city says pickleball, tennis and bike polo are all seeing significant participation increases, while current outdoor hard-surface tennis courts are dual-lined for shared use and rollaway nets are available at Malvern Hills Park, Murphy-Oakley Community Center Park and Weaver Park. The Asheville Pickleball Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, already works with Asheville Parks & Recreation on clinics and league play, underscoring how a dedicated complex could give the sport a stable home base instead of another shared compromise.